Storm damage leaves 17,000 Latvian households without power

About 17,000 households in Latvia remain without electricity after a storm damaged power lines and knocked down poles, LSM reported. High-voltage lines have been restored, while crews are now repairing medium- and low-voltage lines.

Latvian Television visited the Jēkabpils area to report on the restoration work. A broken line near the populated place of Laši has left about 1,000 households in the surrounding area without electricity.

The damage occurred after trees fell onto the line. A clear-cut area behind the trees gave the wind space to build up force before bringing the trees down onto the power infrastructure.

“A support is currently being replaced. It was damaged when trees fell. The same is happening further along the line. In principle, the line is 12 kilometres long and is damaged at intervals. We are proceeding section by section and eliminating the damage,” said Romans Isajevs, head of the Development Division within Sadales tīkls’ Repairs and Construction Function.

Restoring the 12-kilometre line requires a full day of work. The crews have been mobilised since Saturday, with some workers recalled from holiday. They have slept little and seen their families only at night.

Local but very heavy rain also interrupted the work at times on Tuesday. Workers said conditions had been even more difficult in previous days.